The only true sadness is in the absence of desire – C.F. Ramuz

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… since last Spring. It was pretty much business as usual, and the review of visiting IPs suggested maintaining an e-presence in French was more important than in English.

Anyway, aside from a trip in Romania and Bulgaria this summer and a few day trips within Switzerland (see galleries), not much news. Coming up are:

a trip to Berlin for New Year, with the usual photo gallery;

a return to Paris (likely for two years) next September.

There should be a new variation of the blog once in Paris, which should be almost 100% focused on photo galleries (big project in mind), hence no need to handle both French and English versions anymore. It will be available on

As days grow longer, and while sun plays hide and seek on a daily basis, it’s time to enjoy the new transportation mode on the well planned and maintained trail tracks around Bern. As we get more accustomed to this new machine (and in better shape !), there seems to be lots of well marked, interesting bike trails around Bern.

Just scheduled a (temporary) return to Africa in 50 days, combining a visit to a friend (South-Africa) and a safari (Botswana and Zambia). Quite early in the season, but less crowds and more pleasant weather, I guess. Quite thrilled by the envisioned itinerary…

It may sound snobbish at first, but skiing in Gstaad is actually quite cool:

large domain with varied sun exposure, giving good snow quality throughout the day;

not too many people at the ski lifts, except at the bottom station;

lots of quaint villages linked via slopes;

contrary to what was expected, not too many poorly skiing Russians on the slopes;

great accessibility from Bern (direct train from Bern to Zweisimmen in 1h20), with the added bonus of a train pass bringing multiple discounts (the bottom line comes to less than 100 euros for the day with train, ski fare and equipment rental included);

Against all odds (and expectations), yesterday’s “popular initiative” (a text of law that had to be signed by 100.000 electors before it can be put to a referendum) named “against mass immigration” was approved by a thin margin (50,3%).

This will force the Swiss authorities to denounce their free movement of persons treaty with the EU. The issue is that the four freedom of movement treaties (persons, goods, services and capital) are linked together, which means denouncing one leads to denouncing all of them.

The upcoming months will thus lead to huge levels of uncertainty as to what become of the links between the EU and Switzerland in a vast range of domains:

can Swiss goods still be exported freely to Europe (which accounts for 55% of Swiss exports and 75% of its imports)?

what about non-diplomatic staff at international organizations in Geneva, and at diplomatic missions in Bern and other cities?

how will companies in sectors mostly filled with French, German or Italian nationals (hospitals, hotels, watchmakers…) work if they can’t recruit them any more, since there is not enough local supply of workforce?

will Switzerland still be allowed to take part in EU’s public procurement bids?

Looks like we are entering a very long tunnel with quite no light at the end…

Third Sunday spent in another canton capital, on this occasion Lucern. Though we had been there twice before, to attend concerts at the marvellous KKL art center, the 18m separating the station and the KKL were not enough to give us an actual taste of the city.

All in all, this was once again a great city escape, even though the weather was just so-so (white skies, hence a lot of “burnt” photos, and no way to enjoy the views on the lake). Still, a great find with the Rosengart Collection, heavily focused on Picasso (a solid 100+ works, mostly drawings but also with about three dozen paintings), though also offering some works from Impressionists and more recent artists (Chagall, Soutine, Braque…). Pictures of the city can be found in the galleries, or directly HERE.

Almost a month gone since the last post, but due to the holiday season, so-so weather and some extra work, there have been few opportunities to explore the country any further in the past weeks! Still, Gurten, the hill above Bern, was on the menu last week-end, with a wonderful view on the Bernese and Valais peaks (quite a few of them above 4000m). A couple of pictures should be added to the Bern album in the upcoming days.
The upcoming week-end should be dedicated to the sales seasons (plus being on-call at the office), but with some luck, the next one should be the first ski week-end since 2005!

Last Sunday, taking advantage of a gorgeous weather (just as pretty much all days since I’ve been here), I headed to Thun (in French: Thoune), a city on the eponymous (crystal-clear) lake about 15 minutes South-East of Bern. The location is wonderful, with the first ski slopes of the Bernese Oberland about 15 minutes away (surfers on the train were all set and ready to ride). The old city center is quite small but very charming, and there a big but not too imposing white castle on top of all this.